The Power of One
by Enigmatic Magus
Summary: Sephiroth Lives! Too bad he's got alot more to worry about than Avalanche. Like certain Sailorsuited Defenders of Love and Justice. And a rather destructive Wrecking Crew. FIC IS DEAD
1. The Power of One (part 1)

… This isn't the Promise land. Where…?  
  
*FLASH*  
  
Suddenly, Sephiroth Remembered. Cloud. Limit Break... Death?  
  
At the last moment he'd withdrawn, something new to him, leaving his body to die. He'd drifted, bodiless, until a bright light had attracted him. As he approached however, it had reached out for him, tendrils of unknown energy wrapping around his incorporeal form and pulling him into the blindingly glowing pinprick of light. And he let himself be sucked in. Next thing he knew, he was standing on a city street, nowhere he'd ever been before. Trees. Living Nature. There must not have been a Mako Reactor for miles. He hovered, then. A few feet above the ground, and headed towards a magic source he realized he'd noticed since arriving.  
  
The Mercury computer didn't lie. Something very powerful had appeared in the Nerima district of Tokyo, and its sudden, forced entry into this reality had sent ripples in quite a few dimensional barriers. One massively annoying side effect of this breach was the transportation of a few Youma, and even a Daimon or two to be deposited in this reality. 'At least,' she thought, 'Galaxia's minions were made.' Still, they did have the Daimon and Youma to take care of.  
  
Youma were troublesome in the past. Sucking Energy to twist into negative power for their empire, they'd been, or had at least seemed powerful, back when the inner scouts had first awakened. A Youma was a weak creature of evil origins. Though some can possess people like Oni, and a few are respectably powerful (the few Youma lords), with the Scouts at their current skill level, Youma of almost all breeds were weak, and easy to manage. Still, to an ordinary human, a Youma was deadly, and the Senshi were (unofficially) charged with the protection of innocents.  
  
Daimons were a bit worse. Smarter, Stronger, and versatile, these creatures sucked crystallized essence of a pure heart out of their victims, and left them for dead. Basically a Demon spirit possessing an otherwise- inanimate object, Daimon could summon more power than a Youma, but due to their reliance on their inanimate-object-hosts, their power was twisted into something relating to whatever they'd possessed. Fortunately, their leader, Pharaoh 90 The Sovereign of Silence, was gone, destroyed by Sailor Saturn, and therefore could do no worse than kill a victim over time. The only perk was that the Daimons arrived un-merged. They had to seek out an object to posses, and take the time to merge with it. Mercury knew that was important to know… but not exactly how to use that information.  
  
Sailor Mars' Flame Sniper finished off the Youma currently pestering them, and they continued on their way towards the powerful disturbance that had caused this. The others followed, trusting The Mercury Computer, and, subsequently, Mercury, to lead the way.  
  
"Ranma, no baka!" The now-familiar cry rang out, ignored by everyone to whom it was so common. Ranma, however, knew he'd pushed her too far again, and backed up... into the Koi pond.  
  
A wet and agitated Ranma-chan pulled herself out of the water, and glared at Akane. "What'd you do that for?" she cried angrily, then stared...standing behind Akane, where nothing had been before, was a vaguely humanoid and vaguely female... thing. Ranma frowned, and took up a defensive stance. "Who… what the heck are you?" she asked, staring at the thing before her. The Youma just laughed, then pointed at her. "I'm nothing you should be concerned about… unless you worry about death, little girl!" It reached out with its power to begin stealing her power. Normally, a youma used some sort of object to channel one's life energy into its holding-space, but they could, and would, forego that, if there was no time to create such an object. Ranma, however, recognized the Tug at his Ki, and leapt, up, over, and behind the Youma quickly. "Watch out Akane. That thing sucks up your Ki like Miss Hinako, only much slower. The Youma Growled. "Slow am I? I'll show you!" It said, spinning with an extended fist, hoping to take Ranma's head off.  
  
Despite the Youma's spoken threat, it was unnerved by the sheer amount of energy this human had. If it could steal it all, it'd be more powerful than almost any Youma it'd ever come across. A Youma Lord would still present a formidable adversary, but anything less would be pathetic. If it could get that power.  
  
Ranma ducked the punch, having seen it start before the monster was even partially turned. She then leapt again, flipping back and bringing her feet up under the Youma's extended arm. The hit to the armpit would have devastated a human, but the youma simply fell, growled, and climbed back to its feet. "You'll pay for that, insect." The Youma said, preparing to throw a magical blast. Ranma shrugged, and got ready to leap whatever the thing was preparing to throw. Whatever this thing was, it telegraphed it's moves a week in advance. Ranma could have taken this thing one handed. Still, it had attacked him, and wasn't human, so he couldn't really see any reason to hold back on the more lethal maneuvers in his arsenal.  
  
The Youma shouted in frustration as the human dodged its magical blast a fifth time. From what it knew, and had heard, Humans tended to get hit, fall over, and cease movement. This one wasn't following those rules. Instead, this human bounced around faster than anything it'd ever seen before, and seemed to enjoy coming in close and giving it a few hits. Nothing incapacitating yet, but they were still painful, and annoying. Finally, it had enough.  
  
"Akane? Ranma! Dinner's ready!" Kasumi called out. She'd heard Ranma and Akane sparring outside, and was currently standing in the doorway to inform them that it was time to eat. The Youma, however, saw this as the perfect opportunity to get the human. It fired a blast at the figure in the doorway, hoping to distract it's meal long enough to stop it's insane motion.  
  
Ranma saw red. Attacking Ranma was a simple challenge. Attacking Akane was grounds for painful reactions. Attacking Kasumi… The punishment was worse than death, and all of the Nerima Wrecking Crew, through some unspoken agreement, would punish someone who would attack someone so… innocent. "Moukou Takabisha!" he cried, firing off a blast of Confidence- fueled Ki at the rapidly moving Magical attack.  
  
Ki, the life energy of most natural living beings, is stable, usually, because it's contained within the body from which it is created. However, when outside the body, it becomes unstable, and dangerous, because it doesn't have the body to disperse itself in naturally. Magic, power, is an external form of energy, given off by different things in different ways. It's everywhere, and hard to tap, much less use, but when done correctly, can do many miraculous things. One of which is to use it as a weapon. When this is done, the normally stable energy is destabilized and compressed, making it at least as dangerous, or even more dangerous than a Ki blast.  
  
Ranma's Ki Blast was much more powerful than the tired Youma's. It engulfed the unstable magic, and suddenly imploded. Ranma, still upset, ignored this, and leapt at the Youma. "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" she shouted, wailing on the Youma with more punches than Akane or the stunned Kasumi could count, or even see. The Youma, however, could feel them. Not individually, but it was more like a sustained migraine, only, much, much more painful. With a final shout, Ranma Channeled her Ki into her fist and brought it back for a final, more powerful punch, and let fly.  
  
With a little whimper, the Youma disappeared, defeated and dead. Ranma smirked, and turned to Akane and Kasumi. Then the Ki/Magic singularity exploded.  
  
Mercury stopped, and stared at what her visor was showing her. A block away, a Youma they'd been coming for had disappeared, leaving the typical radiation they gave off in death. Then something had gone off. She didn't know what it was, but it seemed to be traveling through most inanimate objects with ease. However the translucent dome that was rapidly expanding before her seemed to be resonating with life energy. She had no time to brace, and had barely begun to shout out a warning before the dome wall was upon her.  
  
End Chapter One.  
  
Hmm… more fun than I though… I wonder how I'll bring in the other Tokyo- based Anime charries… or even if I will.. I suppose though, that only time will tell, eh? Guess I ought to find a place to post this… 


	2. The Power of One (part 2)

With a groan, Ami Mizuno, Sailor Mercury, sat up. She looked around and spotted Rei and Minako nearby, stirring as they too began to awaken from their blast-induced slumber. She looked around and noticed that she and her friends seemed to be the only people getting up. She paled, and crawled over to a nearby pedestrian, not caring about how rough the street was on her unprotected knees. When she reached the body, she felt for a pulse, and sighed with relief. Apparently their costume had negated the… whatever that thing was, to an extent. She stood up, leaning on a mailbox as the last bit of vertigo subsided, and turned to her fallen friends, ready to give them a hand.  
  
Ranma woke up quickly, and jumped to her feet, wobbling for a second before she found her center of balance. She looked around once, spotting Akane and Kasumi lying nearby, and leapt at them, sweeping both up, and onto her shoulders, before she jumped over the fence towards Tofu's office. Ranma hadn't seen him in a while, but the doctor, Ranma was sure, would be able to help Akane… unless the sight of Kasumi, even unconscious, drove him crazy.  
  
Unfortunately, Ranma landed in front of the doctor's office at the same time a trio of girls decided to transform back into Senshi. Ranma stared as a black haired girl, a blonde, and a… was that blue? "What the.." Ranma then looked over his shoulder at Akane, and shut up. The three girls called out something about their make up, and suddenly began dancing and spinning in mid-air, a suitable fireworks show (without the annoying pops and whistles) making each move seem much more spectacular than it really was. When they landed, three girls who looked roughly similar but seemed to be a little older stood nearby.  
  
"Can you do that in different Colors?" Ranma asked, wondering why she hadn't detected any change in Ki, other than a subtle shift, similar to the way their looks changed. Still, his Danger sense told him that these girls were more powerful than they looked, even if they didn't move much like fighters. As they approached him, all scowling, he started analyzing in his mind. 'That one in red knows a little martial arts… Karate, or something similar, the one in blue has never fought a real fight, but moves cautiously, an unskilled defensive posture, and the one in yellow carries herself like a street fighter.'  
  
Sailor Mars was upset. A wall, of all things, had knocked her out! Granted, it was a wall made of pure emotion, charged by dark magic, and completely unheard of, but the fact remained, she'd faced off hundreds of evil minions, and she gets beat in the back by a wall. And now some Red-haired Youma carrying two unconscious people had the NERVE to mock her transformation! "Flame Sniper!" She cried, releasing her fire-charged magical blast at Ranma. Ranma jumped out of the way just in time, avoiding being run through, but getting singed on the leg a little. "Hey! What'd you do that for! You could have hurt somebody, yanno?" She cried, looking for a place to set Akane and Kasumi down. Settling on the roof of the Doctors office, she gently placed Akane and Kasumi on their backs, and leapt down.  
  
"Youma! For trying to kidnap innocent and helpless humans for the forces of darkness, we, the Sailor Senshi, will punish you, in the name of the moon!"  
  
Ranma stared at them. He didn't know what to respond to first: The notion that Akane was helpless, the suggestion that he worked for darkness, or their overall speech. Finally, she got into a thoughtful-looking pose, and, tapping her chin, she asked, "Does the moon have a name?"  
  
Mercury, Venus, and Mars face faulted. Nobody'd ever asked something so… dumb, ever since they'd started off as Sailor Senshi. Finally Mercury responded "Luna." Ranma just shrugged, and muttered an "Oh," as she stared at them. Mercury frowned, her visor telling her some rather odd things. This… whatever it was, had minimal dark energy… in fact, it had the same level any normal human had. But its life energy reading was too high. Perhaps it was a Youma that had stolen a lot of life energy, and was using it to make a shield against scanning? But then, most Youma weren't that smart. On the other hand, its question earlier hadn't shown much intelligence… though, now that she thought about it, how did she punish in the name of the moon? It wasn't sentie.. She frowned, and stopped that train of thoughts. All this thought had gone through Ami's fast-working mind in a few seconds, but that was enough time for Ranma to stick her foot in her mouth, and start things off down a dangerous path.  
  
"Why are you wearing something so retarded?" Ranma asked, looking kind of bored. Rei Fumed. "Retarded? This outfit is recognized the world over as the costumes worn by Tokyo's magical defenders! Why are YOU so retarded?" She asked, stepping forward in challenge. Ranma straightened up a bit, recognizing the unspoken challenge, but not accepting… yet.  
  
"Feh. I'm not the one wearing THAT outfit." Ranma said, grinning. "GRRRR" Rei answered, twitching slightly and getting ready to pounce on the Youma with a death wish. Ranma grinned. This was too easy. Actually… now that she thought about it, this would be an interesting time to test a question she'd had bouncing around in her head for the last minute. 'They seem to have something around them, like a shield. Meaning they're protected… but from what? And, if I attack, what will it, and won't it, be able to stop?' Ranma looked at her and sighed. Now was not the time. Akane and Kasumi needed help, and these girls were stopping her. Maybe they'd listen to reason?  
  
"Look… as much as I'd love to talk with Tokyo's magical retarded-outfit- wearing defenders, I cant." She said, in one breath. Mars' veins began to bulge. "Those girls I were carrying got hurt in an attack, and I need to get them to the doctor's office," She said, pointing to the building behind them.  
  
Mercury, Venus, and Mars looked, and sure enough, they'd transformed in front of a doctors office. Minako, Venus, looked at the person staring down Rei, and sighed. She couldn't feel any danger, and her danger-sense had been well honed from her experience, both as Sailor Venus, and as Sailor V, before that. Mercury, as well, had decided that the anomaly was explainable, and that this person was of little threat. The Mercury computer, beeped, and a message appeared for her to read. She read it, and pressed a button, then put the visor away with the tap of a button. She and Venus turned to go, that dark energy source was still out there, but much farther away, now. Mars, however, scowled at Ranma. "I'll be watching you… Whoever you are…" She said, not willing to move until Ranma broke eye contact. "Ranma. Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts." Ranma said, not willing to back down from their staring contest.  
  
Mercury looked back. Come on, Mars! There's still something evil out there that could be causing trouble as we wait here!" Rei frowned at Ranma, and spun, to glare at Mercury, before casting a final withering glance at Ranma. Only, she wasn't there. She was walking in the door, with the two girls over her shoulder again. However, Ranma still had the nerve to grin at Rei, and wave bye to her in a rather condescending manner. "GRRRRRRRRR" she said again, stomping after her friends. She'd be back. She knew she would. And She'd show that 'Ranma' a thing or two about the Sailor Senshi.  
  
Sephiroth was over the ocean, now. Ahead, the power was still there. Not growing, or changing, or moving… It just sat there, like the northern crater had on his home world. Finally, he saw land again, and headed inland, his destination still over the horizon. Had he known the names and places of this world, he'd have learned that he was headed for The Valley of Jusendo. Phoenix Mountain (collapsed, now) Jusenkyo, The Musk Dynasty, The Joketsuzoku Village, all were there, all having a magical essence that shone like a beacon to those properly able to see it. Sephiroth grinned as he felt his target getting closer.  
  
TADA! Another chapter finished… and after that last one, this one should be a little more.. flow-y. Also, I'd like to than the rapid C&C I've gotten just for the first chapter, and really want some feedback. I know Ranma acted a bit mature in this chapter, and I've probably got a few names misspelled.. but I hope everything makes sense… Keep telling me what's good, bad, ugly.. demented.. ^_^ retarded. Whatever… And feel free to E_Mail me or IM me… if I'm not working, I'm online. 


End file.
